If you are looking for the Independence Day Blog Hop, please go here.


Ooh, there are so many other things I should have been doing but I needed some down time.  So, up to my room I went.  45 minutes and Poof! A new LO.  This one is another fun idea from Child's Play Challenges!  This idea is based on sidewalk chalk. Well, that's something my son has never been interested in.  But oh well.  I have these cool chalkboard alpha stickers that I could use in a title.  And Oh, I have these awesome photos of him trying to get back into the classroom after meeting his teacher.  He really didn't want to leave.  I had to drag him kicking and yelling OUT of the classroom.  He turned around and starting banging not he door to get back in.  His teacher poked her head out to ask if everything was ok....

I had a chance to play with a new chevron mask by Studio Calico.  The blue Glimmer Mist and Doodlebug twine pick up the blue in his shirt.  The big Basic Grey red brad,  Echo Park PP and red question ,ark pick up his red shirt and the red door.  Definitely fun and a great way to use these alpha stickers!

Fun on the 4th

Welcome to the Independence Day Blog Hop.  If you didn't get here from Robyn's blog, go back to Amanda's blog and start from the beginning.

I love the Fourth of July.  I'm a history buff, so the significance of the day itself is important.  Everything is red, white and blue! But I also like a good reason to spend the day with the family doing something fun.

I  didn't have a lot of 4th of July photos printed, but I did have this one.  It's from a few years ago, and the coldest 4th I can remember.  We wore long sleeves all day.  It was cloudy.  We weren't sure we'd be able to see the fireworks.  It's a good thing there were Sparklers and Screamers!

I used a sketch by Lain Ehmann and kept it fairly simple.  I do have to say though, that I'm really enjoying making pinwheels lately.  They were the right accent for this page.  I fussy cut the small ones on the banner from the PP and made the larger ones.    I used red buttons to pick up the the red "4th" (which I made from a sheet of Thickers numbers). 

Supplies: PP-Best Creation and MME, Twine-Doodlebug, alpha letters/numbers-Thickers, Cosmo Cricket, Melissa Frances, random buttons.

Thank you for stopping by.  Hope you enjoy a fulfilled and safe Independence Day!  Please head on over to Mandi's blog from here.

***C*O*L*D***

If you are looking for Child's Play Challenges Design Team entry, please go here.

Good Thursday morning!  You know what that means...Thoughtful Thursday at Thinking*Through*Design.  Today's thought is about grounding photos.  I have to say, I am learning as I go along here.  I don't think I gave much conscious thought to what I was doing to make my photos stand out on my pages.  I did realize while working on this LO, that my photo was getting lost on the page.  It was too close in color to the PP.  Aha!  I needed something to make the photo stand out, to ground it.  I chose a transparency with a framed edge in a darker, brighter color.  Now the photo is the focus.

 I do want to share that I almost ruined the whole page.  I tried to splatter some ink and it didn't come out right. I used a paintbrush to smear it around and it looked worse.  I added some watered down white paint then misted with white and was able to make it look frosty.

Popcorn Passion

Ohhh, I'm really excited about this page. It's my Design Team entry for Child's Play Challenges. I recently found this challenge site and am having so much fun playing along.  Oh, how the prompts are taking me back.... Anyway, it's great for me to be able to grab inspiration from any part of the prompt and run with it.  I really work well that way.  I think these challenges are made for me.  I can be silly and serious at the same time.   Wish me luck!   The inspiration for this entry comes from this photo:

I'm sad to say, my children are way past this toy.  I took some time to decide how I was going to approach this.  I thought about color.  Then I thought about circles.  Then I thought about the sound the toy makes.  *POP* *POP* *POP*!!!  Yup, my LO is inspired by the sound this toy makes as it's rolling across the floor.

This LO makes me giggle, and for a few reasons.  First, the photos.  My son had so much fun discovering, playing with and eating the popcorn.  Second, this piece of Basic Grey popcorn paper!  When I saw it in the paper pack, I thought to myself, "nah, I'll never use this".  Never say never.  I couldn't have asked for better paper.  Combine those two with the pop-pop toy and there you have the giggles.

I fussy cut some of the popcorn, used pop dots and some small beads to give the effect of the popping sound.  I used some of the colors (red, blue, yellow, white) in the toy as well and outlined the blue circles on the PP to replicate the popping balls in the toy.  I replaced the 'O' with a piece of popcorn, again to replicate the sound and the action of the toy.  Thank you again Child's Play Challenges, for another fun inspirational idea.

Tree Hugger

Ahhh, a day to myself.  That always means scrap time.  I didn't plan on creating this page today. I was looking for some other photos and came across this one of my son in the tree.  As I was looking through this paper pack, I saw the large tree sticker on the page.  Club Ck May/June Issue Challenge #8 is using a tree element on your page.  Since it accidentally fell onto my desk, I went ahead with it.  Let me tell you, it is not what I had planned on for this challenge.  None the less, I am very happy with the way it looks.  I like the subtle colors and the simple design.  I probably never would have used this sticker if it wasn't for this challenge.  Thanks again CK for pushing me outside my box.

PP/sticker-Basic Grey, fabric border-LYB, twine-Doodlebug, Chipboard pieces-MME, letters-Thickers, ink-colorbox, pen-EK Success

When the Wild Things Come

Yup, another 2 pager! Thanks again to Child's Play Challenges!  The inspiration for this page comes from the book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  I had to think hard about the photos I would use.  I have a stack of photos on my desk that I pull from when I scrap.  I try really hard to use those first, before I print others.  When I looked at these Halloween pictures, I actually giggled to myself.  What could be better than Wild Things and Halloween?

My guys weren't scary, but they sure were little monsters!

I adapted a Scrapbook Generation sketch for this LO.  All PP and stickers are BoBunny. Flag banner, SEI. Title stickers, MakingMemories and Thickers, Souffel pen.  I added some Stickles to the eyes.

2 Page Frenzy

I've been on a roll lately creating 2 page layouts.  It's been fun to get so many photos scrapped so quickly. While working on them, I've found I take a more simple approach.  Less is more.  With more photos on the page, there is already a lot going on.  Since I want to focus on the photos, I find myself using fewer embellies and simpler designs.  When working on single page layouts with less photos, I have more room to 'play'.

Here are 2 that I finished last week.  Both are definitely more simple.

 

This was our fist time going to an Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch.  We all had a great time.  It was a beautiful, warm, fall day.  We picked apples, chose our pumpkins and snacked on fresh pressed apple cider and apple donuts.  We decided to make it an annual event.

I stitched to make it look like the pumpkin vines.  I only had 2 pumpkin stickers, so I dry embossed the negative space of one of them and cut it out to make the third.

 We were visiting my Mom.  In her front yard is this huge Coral Tree.  Evan sat there for hours reading Calvin and Hobbes comics.  I see the Calvin and Hobbes font for the title. Sketch by Scrapbook Generation.

A Disney Date

Yippee, back to regular blogging!  I found this great new calling site called Child's Play Challenges.  The challenges are based on children's books, toys, games etc.  How fun!  I like it because I can choose any element from the item for my inspiration.  I think that really works for me and the way I scrap.
This is my first LO for Child's Play Challenges.  Here is the inspiration photo:

and here is my LO

I have already finished scrapping all my photos of my boys in their Cozy Coupe, so I took my cue from the colors in the photo, red, yellow and blue with a bit of black. I had these photos of my older son and I at Disneyland.  The red shirt and blue balloon were easy to work with.  I love primary colors, and having boys, I use them frequently. I spent a lot of time making the pinwheels.  Iused them because they move like the cozy coupe!

I started with a Scrapbook Generation sketch.   DCWV Cardstock, Echo Park and TPC Studio patterned paper, Doodlebug twine, random buttons and Authentique letter stickers.

Water Works

I need to get back in the swing of things and begin posting more regularly.  I've been scrapping, just not posting.  School is almost out for the summer.  I'm not sure if that will mean more or less time for scrapping and blogging.  I guess I'll find out in 7 more days.

Speaking of summer. I worked on this LO yesterday for the Club CK May/June Issue Challenge #7-wrap twine around something.  I struggled coming up with a design.  I was inspired by Joannie McBride's LO on page 86 of the Creating Keepsakes Special Issue, Simple Scrapbooks.  I liked the photo placement and the journal spot in the middle of the left page.  Then, it all came together very quickly.

I loved the brightness of the blue, orange and turquoise and wanted to play that up.  I used scraps of SEI, Echo Park and Fancy Pants PP and attached them with blue MM staples.  I couldn't pass up another chance to use Queen & Co wash tape with the same colors.  I thought the chevron added energy to the page.  I grabbed some Doodlebug twine and wrapped it around some colored paperclips from Target. I added some small Sassafrass stickers to create the clusters.  I used the Graphically speaking Cricut cartridge to create the title, with some blue bling and orange Zig pen to define it. Lastly, a Scenic Route journal spot. Finished. A fun, happy, bright page that i think highlights the photos well.

Oh, the paperclips?  Saw them in the July/Aug Issue of CK Magazine.  A little tip about the paperclips...  Attach the paperclips first, then wrap the twine around them.  Super easier that way!